Hospital trust appoints temporary CEO

Jo Williams will step in while the search for a permanent successor to Louise Barnett is carried out

A hospital trust has brought in an interim chief executive, while it seeks a permanent appointment.

Jo Williams, the chief executive officer of the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital in Birmingham, will step in at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust from September.

The move follows the decision of Louise Barnett to step down from the role after more than four years in the job.

She had overseen its response to the Ockenden maternity review and the ongoing efforts to reorganise services in Telford and Shrewsbury.

More recently, the trust has faced criticism over a Channel 4 documentary which exposed failings in its A&E department.

Ms Williams "brings a wealth of experience and a proven track record of success in healthcare management", the trust said.

"The Trust has been on a journey of improvement over the past four years, and I am keen to accelerate progress," Ms Williams said.

She added she was aware of the "significant pressures that colleagues continue to face" and also the "exciting transformation work that is under way".

Plans for the transformation programme, which will see the Princess Royal Hospital (PRH) site specialise in planned care, and the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital site (RSH) specialise in emergency care, were approved in May.

Also in May, the Care Quality Commission concluded the trust's overall rating of inadequate had risen to requires improvement.

Maternity services in Shrewsbury received an improved overall rating of good and in June, Ms Barnett said the trust had implemented 195 of the 210 actions from the Ockenden report, and that it continued to work on the remaining 15.